Recently, there has been increasing demand for chewable capsules which can be easily ingested without water from a viewpoint of improving ingestion properties and portability of pharmaceuticals. Chewable capsules capable of being easily ingested without water are useful especially as immediate-soluble preparations for children and the elderly.
One of the dosage forms which can be used as a chewable preparation is a soft capsule. As a method for softening the shell of a soft capsule to be made suitable for chewing, a method for increasing the mix proportion of a plasticizer, such as concentrated glycerin, glycerin, or D-sorbitol, in the composition of the shell is conventionally known (e.g., see Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 10-273436 and WO87/01034). However, as the conventional fill material of a soft capsule, an oil solution or suspension, an aqueous or alcoholic solution, or the like have been used. These fill materials are heterogeneous to the shell of a soft capsule. Therefore, when chewing, such a capsule is likely to leave an unpleasant sensation from the shell and the oiliness of an oil base in a fill material. Drugs often exhibit an unpleasant taste, such as peculiar bitterness. Since the drug-containing fill material of conventional chewable soft capsules is in a solution or suspension form, the fill material immediately spreads out in the mouth and the bitterness of the drug is sensed simultaneously with the ingestion of the capsules. This leads to a reduction in the sensation of ingestion of soft capsules.
In the case of tablets, in order to improve the sensation of ingestion, there has been reported a method for producing a tablet using granules comprising oils and fats so as to be immediately disintegrated in the mouth (see Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 8-333243). However, there is no known soft capsule which has been known to be improved in the sensation of ingestion from the above-described viewpoint.
In the field of foods, recently, as there has been a growing interest in health, there are increasing needs for chewable capsules via which nutrients can be easily supplied. Therefore, soft capsules having an excellent sensation of ingestion are useful for applications as foods and so on, in addition to medications.
As described above, conventional chewable soft capsules are not necessarily satisfactory in terms of the sensation of ingestion due to an unpleasant sensation from the shell and the bitterness of the drugs. The present invention is intended to solve the above-described problems.